The 70 best phrases of Greek Philosophers

Ancient Greece was a fruitful period in all imaginable scientific arts and disciplines . The splendor of Athens at the political level marked a turning point in the development of Western civilization.

During this period, countless thinkers emerged in different sciences that, thanks to their efforts, generated cultural advances that were not insignificant.

• Related article: "The 75 best philosophical phrases pronounced by the best thinkers"

Phrases of Greek Philosophers and Famous Quotes

To review all this knowledge left by Ancient Greece, in this article we are going to compile a large number of famous quotations and phrases of Greek Philosophers that left an incomparable legacy.

Of course there are many more reflections that have had to be left out of this selection, but if you consider that there is some sentence that should be on the list, please add it in the comments section.

1. Advice is that you marry: if you find a good wife you will be happy, if not, you will become a philosopher. (Socrates)

For Socrates, there was little more choice.

2. Do not let the grass grow on the path of friendship. (Socrates)

A true friendship must be nourished frequently.

3. Kings or rulers are not those who carry scepter, but those who know how to command. (Socrates)

Authority emanates from power, and not vice versa.

4. Fear the woman's love more than man's hatred. (Socrates)

Nothing is more stark than a woman in love.

5. There is no pain like a long life. (Sophocles)

Boredom and boredom are real poisons.

6. Who is born mortal, walks towards death. (Ephesus)

Inexcusably, it is so.

7. Nobody is happy throughout their life. (Euripides)

We all have ups and downs, it is quite usual.

8. It is worse to commit an injustice than to suffer it because whoever commits it becomes unjust and who does not. (Socrates)

One of those philosophical phrases that leave you thinking.

9. Human science consists more in destroying errors than in discovering truths. (Socrates)

On the path of science.

10. The best sauce is hunger. (Socrates)

When there is a need, everything that covers it is welcome.

11. Good and beautiful men conquer each other with kindness. (Socrates)

A council of seduction of the great Socrates.

12. Only knowledge that comes from within is true knowledge. (Socrates)

Nothing that is not processed by our conscious mind has the attribute of truth.

13. Who will capitulate sooner: who needs the difficult things or who uses what they can find good? (Socrates)

A phrase that praises austerity.

14. The greatest declaration of love is that which is not made; The man that feels a lot, speaks little. (Plato)

Do not let your words muddy reality.

15. Happiness is in freedom, and freedom in courage. (Pericles)

This is how this Greek philosopher defines happiness.

16. Music is for the soul what gymnastics is for the body. (Plato)

A most accurate parallel.

17. The human body is the carriage; the self, the man who leads it; thought is the reins, and feelings are the horses. (Plato)

Defining each facet of the human being.

18. Friends often become thieves of our time. (Plato)

You trust your time, and this can be a big mistake.

19. Seeking the good of our fellow human beings, we find ours. (Plato)

In the common good there is also the personal good.

20. There is no man so cowardly that love does not make brave and transform into a hero. (Plato)

Intoxicated by love, we are capable of the impossible.

21. Listen, you will be wise. The beginning of wisdom is silence. (Pythagoras)

The Greek mathematician thus conceived wisdom.

22. Poverty does not come by diminishing wealth, but by the multiplication of desires. (Plato)

Having more needs makes us slaves of economic power.

23. Tyrants surround themselves with bad men because they like to be flattered and no man of high spirit will flatter them. (Aristotle)

Loyalty between bad men is mere interest.

24. The purpose of art is to give body to the secret essence of things, not to copy their appearance. (Aristotle)

About art and its essence.

25. The friend of the whole world is not a friend. (Aristotle)

If there is no criterion, there is no basis for friendship.

26. The whole truth is never attained, nor is one ever totally removed from it. (Aristotle)

We are in constant dialectic with truth and reason.

27. Two excesses should be avoided in the education of youth; too much severity, and too much sweetness. (Plato)

In moderation is the key.

28Love consists in feeling that the sacred being beats inside the loved one. (Plato)

Great phrase about love.

29. What I do not know, I do not think I know either. (Plato)

Knowledge must always be questioned.

30. Each tear teaches mortals a truth. (Plato)

Sadness is a friend of the truth.

31. There are men who work as if they were going to live eternally. (Democritus)

Remember that your time is not infinite.

32. The friend must be like money, that before you need it, you know the value it has. (Socrates)

A great metaphor to apply to life and relationships.

33. The wise is the goal of the human soul and, as it progresses in its knowledge, it moves away in turn the horizon of the unknown. (Heraclitus)

A long-term philosophical phrase.

34. Descend into the depths of yourself, and see your good soul. Happiness is only done by oneself with good behavior. (Socrates)

Ethics goes hand in hand with a clear conscience.

35. Young people today do not seem to have any respect for the past or any hope for the future. (Hippocrates)

A phrase that could be applied to the current era.

36. I only know that I do not know anything. (Socrates)

One of those phrases of Greek philosophers who have gone around the world.

37. The beauty of the woman is illuminated by a light that takes us and invites us to contemplate the soul that such a body inhabits, and if it is as beautiful as this one, it is impossible not to love it. (Socrates)

A loa to the female figure.

38. The dead are the only ones who see the end of the war. (Plato)

To reflect on war conflicts and their consequences.

39. Beauty is the splendor of truth. (Plato)

For Plato, beauty was inseparable from reason.

40. Intelligence consists not only in knowledge, but also in the ability to apply knowledge in practice. (Aristotle)

An intelligence without practical skill would be an oxymoron.

41. Hope is the dream of the awakened man. (Aristotle)

Great phrase of those that leave a mark.

42. What is acquired with much work, more is loved. (Aristotle)

The constancy brings very tasty fruits.

43. If you cheat me once, it's your fault; If you cheat on me, it's mine. (Anaxágoras)

One of those famous quotes to apply in our relationships.

44. Think as the wise think, but speak as simple people speak. (Aristotle)

There is no point in pretending wisdom with an abstruse language.

45. True happiness consists in doing good. (Aristotle)

Ethics and goodness are not different things.

46. ​​The lone man is a beast or a god. (Aristotle)

There is no middle ground.

47. At the contact of love everyone becomes a poet. (Plato)

Sensibility softens us all.

48. Learning to die you learn to live better. (Plato)

Being aware of death we can take advantage of life.

49. The best grave is the simplest. (Plato)

No luxury accompanies you after you die.

50. As the eyes are trained for astronomy, the ears are trained to perceive the movements of harmony. (Plato)

Reflection on human perception.

51. The punishment of the deceiver is not to be believed, even when he tells the truth. (Aristotle)

From so much lying, no one believes your truths anymore.

52. It is an indisputable principle that to know how to command well, it is necessary to know how to obey. (Aristotle)

There is no hierarchy without understanding the chain of command.

53. Fear is a suffering that produces the expectation of an evil. (Aristotle)

A philosophical description about fear.

54. Teaching is not a vital function, because it does not have an end in itself; the vital function is to learn. (Aristotle)

The pedagogy and its multiple benefits.

55. If you praise me so much, it will be because you praise yourselves, because when you praise me, they give me to understand that you understand me. (Aristotle)

A somewhat narcissistic phrase.

56. Slowly, but quickly execute your decisions. (Socrates)

Control and agility in decision making.

57. The ignorant affirm, the wise doubt and reflect. (Aristotle)

One of those phrases of Greek philosophers that have reached our days.

58. The wise man does not say everything he thinks, but always thinks everything he says. (Aristotle)

Reflection and action, in that order.

59. I consider more brave the one who conquers his desires than the one who conquers his enemies, since the hardest victory is victory over oneself. (Aristotle)

Great thought of Aristotle to get ahead with force.

60. Some believe that to be friends, it is enough to want, as if to be healthy it would be enough to desire health. (Aristotle)

There are actions that speak more than feelings.

61. We have two ears and a single mouth, just to hear more and to speak less (Zenón de Citio)

A great reflection that few people apply.

62. Remember that the secret of happiness lies in freedom, I secret freedom, courage. (Thucydides)

Another phrase that marks the path of happiness.

63. Only what is achieved with virtue is lasting. (Sophocles)

If it is not achieved with effort, nothing is worth it.

64. The sweetest life consists in knowing nothing. (Sophocles)

Ignorance can bring happiness.

65. The man who is not content with little, does not content himself with anything. (Epicurus of Samos)

Austerity is not everyone's fiefdom.

66. Misfortune puts friends to the test and discovers enemies. (Epithet)

When everything is going well it is usual for friends to hang around. Another song is when it fails.

67. There is only happiness where there is virtue and serious effort, because life is not a game. (Aristotle)

A calm and prudent vision of existence.

68. There is only one good: knowledge. There is only one evil, ignorance. (Socrates)

A very clear way to classify reality.

69. The true wisdom is in recognizing one's ignorance. (Socrates)

Phrase analogous to his famous "I only know that I do not know anything".

70. The virtuoso is content to dream what the sinner does in life. (Plato)

Sinful life is more fun than that of an incorruptible being.